Long week - quick post...

It has been one long week here in Manchester. First off, the RNCM Brass Band performed yesterday at the lunchtime concert series with Dr. Nicholas Childs conducting. It was my first experience in the college brass band, and performing under Nick Childs. I must say that his expectations were very high - and I had to really work to make him happy. For those that don't know who Nick Childs is - he is a very famous euphonium player who is now the conductor of the Black Dyke Brass Band, which may or may not be the best brass band in the world (depending on who you ask). But, here is our program from yesterday, it was a Russian spectacular-of-sorts...

Festive Overture - Shostakovich
Selections from Cappricio Italien - Tchaikovsky
Finale from Symphony No. 2 "The Little Russian" - Tchaikovsky

The concert was easy to listen to - not easy to play... But, all told - went very well... Now, on another banding front, Besses o' th' Barn is getting ready for our first area contest with our new redesigned band. The band is really in top formation right now, and we hope to do well. Last year the band finished at the bottom of the Championship contest (highest level), so we were relegated to the First Section (the next level down)... The band that is in uniform right now is not the same band - virtually all of the players have been rotated out, and we have a new conductor. Hopefully if everyone keeps their head screwed on straight (including myself) we should have a very positive outcome. For more info on our contest, and banding in general, click here.

Right now Steven Mead is over in the US, and I'm jealous. A few more weeks until I get to see my family. I have to go back to the Besson factory in Markneukirchen in Germany to test horns for them at the end of February, and to finally replace my Besson Prestige with a new model - really looking forward to getting my little hands on that... Anyway, that's about it for now. We have been having band every night this week, so time is tight. I promise to update with pictures from the contest and more info soon!